Like others, I have been offended by things people say about religious figures, as well as about philosophers and politicians I happen to believe have integrity.

Almost everything is open to mockery in Western secular society.

Especially religion. Remember the American artist behind “Piss Christ,“ who plunged a crucifix in a giant jar of his ...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2015/01/17/secular-society-defending-the-right-to-offend/feed/0Charlie Hebdo supportersdouglastodd2Canada should bans all "ridiculing characterizations of any religious symbol of any religion in the world" - including "offensive" cartoons about Mohammed, Jesus or Moses, says B.C. Muslim Assoc. spokesman Aasim Rashid.In a secular society, every ideology can be questioned. Satirist Stephen Colbert often takes a kind of prophetic role, including in his criticism of all kinds of religious beliefs. Maybe we all need thicker skins.Muslims beyond the headlineshttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/12/13/muslims-beyond-the-headlines/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/12/13/muslims-beyond-the-headlines/#commentsSun, 14 Dec 2014 02:35:26 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=170589

How are Canada’s Muslims really doing?

If you answered this question solely on the headlines about Canadian soldiers killed by extremists and a convert from Ottawa threatening Islamic State attacks, you could be forgiven for believing Canada’s Muslims are thinking only about online beheadings and homegrown terrorism.

But everyday reality for Canada’s 1.2 million Muslims, most of whom are immigrants, is peppered with far more challenges — both external and internal — than those related

...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/12/13/muslims-beyond-the-headlines/feed/0Victoria Celebrates Canada Daydouglastodd2Only four per cent of Canadian Muslims volunteer at a mosque or attend a worship service once a week or more, according to a Statistics Canada study cited in The Muslim Question in Canada."When immigrant children attend only their own special schools, the outcome is individuals who are uni-culturally aware but socially isolated. And this leads to a fragmented society,” says Abdie Kazempur, of the University of Lethbridge.“In the global debates on multiculturalism, special places are marked by Canada and Muslims,” says Abdie Kazemipur, “Canada is used as evidence that multiculturalism works; Muslims are used as evidence it does not.”The war on Christmas smacks of “anti-culturalism”http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/12/06/the-war-on-christmas-smacks-of-anti-culturalism/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/12/06/the-war-on-christmas-smacks-of-anti-culturalism/#commentsSun, 07 Dec 2014 01:49:20 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=170162

’Tis the season to check on which side is winning the “war on Christmas.”

Is it the atheists and their supportive cohort of super-secular multiculturalists? Or is it the Christians and their diverse allies?

The “war on Christmas” is a high-conflict media story every December in the U.S. That’s when Fox News’ pro-Christmas Bill O’Reilly earns a spike in ratings. It’s also when American Atheists admits its campaign to take “Christ” out of Christmas brings

...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/12/06/the-war-on-christmas-smacks-of-anti-culturalism/feed/0Giant Christmas treedouglastodd2The author of The World Encyclopedia of Christmas says attempts to remove Christmas symbols from the public square smack of "anti-culturalism," not multiculturalism.Former UBC president Stephen Toope told me this year that students and staff made it clear through anonymous surveys that they feel the campus is “ruthlessly secular.”Some atheist organizations have aggressively campaigned against Christian aspects of Christmas.Insights West poll last year found that British Columbians prefer to say “Merry Christmas” by a 10-to-one margin over the safer and blander “Happy Holidays.”Abusing Darwin and biologyhttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/29/abusing-darwin-and-biology/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/29/abusing-darwin-and-biology/#commentsSat, 29 Nov 2014 16:46:36 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=169645

I am beholden to biology. It’s done a lot for us.

The study of living organisms has brought modern medicine, hardy plants, pharmaceuticals, ecological understanding, brain surgery, awareness of germs, food hygiene, evolutionary theory and other advances.

But along with such marvels, the biological revolution has come with a dark side. This multi-branched field of study, which covers everything from genetics to zoology, has frequently mutated into an ideology.

Biological discoveries have led to extreme

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]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/29/abusing-darwin-and-biology/feed/0charles-darwindouglastodd2Biology has given birth to the so-called science of ethics. “Followers of this approach conclude that you have no reason not to do things like eat your dead pet dog, engage in ‘harmless’ incest and clean the toilet with your national flag,” says philosopher.Some common "neuro-myths" are that humans use only 10 per cent of their brain, that the left hemisphere of the brain is for logic and the right is for emotion and that people have “preferred learning styles.” Author Thomas King wins another well-deserved awardhttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/18/author-thomas-king-wins-another-well-deserved-award/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/18/author-thomas-king-wins-another-well-deserved-award/#commentsTue, 18 Nov 2014 22:35:46 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=168856It’s been a very good year for author Thomas King and it firmly establishes the 71-year-old as one of Canada’s pre-eminent writers. On Tuesday, he was awarded the Governor General’s Award for fiction for his novel The Back of the Turtle, while earlier this year he won the B.C. National Non-Fiction Book Award and the Charles Taylor Award for The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.

What do North Americans and Europeans generally blame for most of the world’s misdeeds?

Karen Armstrong says religion is our current scapegoat.

“In the West the idea that religion is inherently violent is now taken for granted and seems self-evident,” Armstrong writes in her new book, Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence (Knopf).

She’s convinced this is a “distorted image” of religion — a stereotype that is letting the largely secular West

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]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/15/skapegoating-religion-lets-west-off-hook-for-violence-karen-armstrong/feed/0Karen Armstrong in Vancouverdouglastodd2Lest we forget: The Vietnam War had virtually nothing to do with religion.With all the accusations flying around blaming religion for virtually all war and oppression, it’s more than valid to recall how religion has also long been an inspiration for peace and reconciliation.Charles Taylor Christine JonesA teacher from an extremely non-religious nationhttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/05/01/tomas-halik-crosses-religioussecular-divide-with-humility/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/05/01/tomas-halik-crosses-religioussecular-divide-with-humility/#commentsFri, 02 May 2014 03:03:22 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=152805Tomáš Halík — winner of the $1.8 million US Templeton Prize in 2014 — is a public intellectual and Roman Catholic priest from one of the most non-religious nations on Earth.

He may offer insights on how the religious and non-religious can better get along in regions like Canada (especially B.C.), the U.S. and Europe, which appear to be growing more secular.

Halik was secretly ordained a priest in East Germany in 1978. And even ...

In his famous song, Imagine, Lennon was not alone in being convinced institutional religions – and nations – are the key causes of war and impediments to universal peace.

But was Lennon’s refrain ...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/04/26/religion-declines-in-well-run-trusting-societies/feed/0Ara Norenzayandouglastodd2In Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide, Pippa Norris (photo) and Ronald Inglehart conclude religiosity declines when people feel "existentially secure," with access to unemployment insurance, retirement support and universal medical care.In the name of Jesus, Nikolaj Grundtvig worked tirelessly to make sure every Dane, particularly the rural poor, had equal access to education and social services. He's still widely admired in Denmark, even while few regularly attend church.Is B.C. brave enough to follow Quebec’s world religions curriculum?http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/07/19/is-b-c-brave-enough-to-follow-quebecs-world-religion-curriculum/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/07/19/is-b-c-brave-enough-to-follow-quebecs-world-religion-curriculum/#commentsSat, 20 Jul 2013 00:49:17 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=130218When is ignorance bliss?

For some it’s when the subject is religion.

How many times have you heard someone remark, almost proudly, they know virtually nothing about religion? As if the deep convictions of four out of five of the world’s inhabitants were beneath them.

Resistance to inter-religious understanding remains strong, judging from continuing global conflicts — and the shortage of courses about religion in the vast majority of North American public schools.

And also ...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/07/19/is-b-c-brave-enough-to-follow-quebecs-world-religion-curriculum/feed/0douglastodd2The B.C. Humanist Association's Ian Bushfield supports world religion courses because he thinks they "combat fundamentalism of all stripes. It’s important for everyone (even atheists) to challenge their beliefs regularly and recognize that different people have different ideas.”The second principle behind Quebec's world religion courses is “the pursuit of the common good,” which refers to the worthwhile mission of cobbling together a shared vision for Canada’s many fragmented cultural groups.We’re all ‘Doubting Thomases’ nowhttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/07/16/were-all-doubting-thomases-now/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/07/16/were-all-doubting-thomases-now/#commentsWed, 17 Jul 2013 00:52:53 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=129815A prominent New York Times columnist has recently written about The Secular Age, the opus by Canada’s greatest living philosopher, Charles Taylor.

David Brooks offers an excellent summary of the book as it explores the consequences of society moving into a secular age, where it is no longer taken for granted that God is at work in the world.

As Brooks writes, Taylor’s investigation begins with this question: “Why was it virtually impossible not ...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/07/16/were-all-doubting-thomases-now/feed/0Doubting_Thomasdouglastodd2‘Identity politics’ undermines the common goodhttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/04/13/identity-politics-undermines-the-common-good/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/04/13/identity-politics-undermines-the-common-good/#commentsSat, 13 Apr 2013 20:02:28 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=117491Canada’s most famous living philosopher, Charles Taylor, maintains everyone belongs to a minority. And, when you think about it, it’s true.

However, I’m not an obvious member of a minority. I’m not a person Statistics Canada defines as an ethnic “visible minority.” Nor am I homosexual, female, aboriginal or physically disabled.

Those are the kinds of minority groups that are at the heart of the Canadian government’s long-standing employment equity, or affirmative-action, programs.

But ...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/04/13/identity-politics-undermines-the-common-good/feed/0Identity politics.douglastodd2There are hundreds, if not thousands, of minority groups. Ethnocultural groups that have spoken out about stigmatization include francophones in Quebec, Acadians, Japanese-Canadians, Ukrainians, blacks, Metis, Chinese-Canadians and many more. Image from documentary, 'Being Chinese in Quebec.'Ujjal Dosanjh warned that contemporary Canadian politicians are "consumed by identity politics." He repeated the word, "consumed," three times.Smart atheist heads $3-million grant into religion and moralityhttp://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/01/11/wise-atheist-wins-3-million-to-research-religion-and-morality/
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/01/11/wise-atheist-wins-3-million-to-research-religion-and-morality/#commentsSat, 12 Jan 2013 02:01:13 +0000http://blogs.vancouversun.com/?p=102433Why is a self-described “complete atheist” in charge of a $3-million research project into religion?

To find out how Edward Slingerland, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of B.C., came to be the primary investigator for the world’s largest study on the evolution of religion and morality, we need to go back a couple of decades.

Slingerland was an undergraduate majoring in molecular biology at Princeton University. But the hard sciences just weren’t ...

]]>http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/01/11/wise-atheist-wins-3-million-to-research-religion-and-morality/feed/0Edward Slingerlanddouglastodd2UBC's Ted Slingerland is among many Westerners to discover the wisdom of Chuang Tzu. Thomas Merton was a Catholic monk.Sam Harris is the atheist author of the bestselling book, The End of Faith. However, UBC's Edward Slingerland considers him a "moron."